Hatfield Township resident faces murder charges in Colorado

HATFIELD TWP. — A U.S. Army veteran living in the municipality facing murder charges in Colorado was arrested early Friday morning, Sept. 28.

Billy Joe Delacey, 33, of the first block of Whitemarsh Lane, is accused of killing a male escort more than 14 months ago in Mesa County, Colo.

Dan Tinneny, an officer with the Hatfield Township Police Department, as well as members of the Montgomery County Detectives Unit, served a fugitive warrant at Delacey’s home at 6 a.m. Friday, according to the police criminal complaint provided by the office of District Judge Harry Nesbitt.

The same document states that the warrant — issued by Chief Judge David Bottinger, of the 21st Judicial District in the Colorado county — accuses Delacey of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, possession of sexually explicit material and theft.

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According to a grand jury indictment from Mesa County, Delacey is accused of killing Luis Alberto Vasquez Oliva, who died sometime between 6 a.m. on July 31, 2011 and 2 a.m. on Aug. 1, 2011.

It states that Oliva, 26, “suffered blunt-force trauma, with a single blow to the back of the head and multiple injuries to his face and head.”

Delacey was arraigned Friday morning by Nesbitt, according to a court employee.

She said the defendant was remanded to Montgomery County prison in lieu of $500,000 cash bail.

Delacey and Oliva met through Craig’s List, according to the Colorado grand jury indictment.

It states that Delacey sent Oliva two emails in late July regarding a “male-on-male massage advertisement show.”

The two discussed the price of sex, according to the indictment.

It states that during an interview with authorities, Delacey said he received a hamstring and calf massage in Oliva’s apartment, but changed his mind about having sexual contact with Oliva.

Delacey moved in with his mother and stepfather in southeastern Pennsylvania in December of 2011, according to the indictment.

It states that he lived with them until June or July of this year, when he moved in with his stepbrother.

Delacey told his stepbrother that he was under investigation in Colorado for a “piracy,” according to the indictment.

The case will proceed directly to the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, according to the same employee in Nesbitt’s court.

Messages left for William Tierney, deputy chief of the Hatfield Township Police Department, and Pete Hautzinger, the district attorney of Mesa County, were not returned Monday.

Follow Bradley Schlegel on Twitter @BSchlegel1027.

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